Steven Tyler: Hotel Fall Was an Accident, Not a Relapse

That was Steven Tyler’s outlook after he suffered a painful fall in a hotel bathroom in Paraguay on Tuesday – an incident he described in detail Thursday on NBC’s Today show.

The Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge, 63, says he was battling food poisoning and began to feel nauseous in the shower. “I started to get sick, and I just fell on my face,” he said. “I just passed out.”

His tour manager called the American Embassy and found the best hospital in the area. “It was like one-stop shopping,” said Tyler. “They stitched up my eye. They did a little plastic surgery. And they fixed my tooth. All in one fell swoop.”

Tyler, who notoriously battled drug and alcohol problems in the past, said he accepted the fact that some people might think he fell off the wagon. But he said this was an accident, not a relapse.

“I get that people think that,” he said. “It still bothers me a little, but it’s something that I have to have to deal with for the rest of my life.”

Tuesday’s show in Paraguay was postponed by a day, but Tyler and the band played Wednesday to a raucous crowd, and the tour will continue. “Short of having my leg taken off, people are going to expect me to take the stage,” said Tyler.